Detachable towing bracket

Abstract

 A detachable towing bracket for a vehicle, whereby the ball bar comprising a first coupling means can be detachably connected to a second coupling means or a housing mounted on the vehicle, characterized in that a very stable, statically overdefined connection between the two coupling pieces is obtained because the fixation takes place over seven line contacts, whereby the first line contact is formed as a result of a clamping body, which is positioned in or on said first coupling means, pushing off against said second coupling means and whereby the other six contact points are formed as a result of cams provided on said first coupling means being pressed against abutting faces on or in said second coupling means or said housing.

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a detachable towing bracket for a vehicle, whereby the bracket part comprising a first coupling means can be detachably connected to a second coupling means or a housing to be secured to the vehicle, whereby the connection is automatically effected when said ball bar comprising first coupling means is inserted or attached.

[0002] A towing bracket of this type is known from EP 0223996. With the known towing bracket the first and the second coupling means are interconnected by pressing together two pairs of corresponding surfaces (made up of two cylindrical cams and two cylindrical recesses) and two pairs of contra corresponding surfaces, which make line contact with each other. The contact between the two coupling means thus consists of two conformable surface contacts and two line contacts, said contacts together providing a more or less statically defined support.

[0003] The towing bracket according to the above-mentioned patent has two drawbacks, namely:

• Since the support is statically defined, the stability of the coupling is not optimal.
• The construction as a whole is rather complex and cannot be manufactured in an inexpensive manner. By way of illustration the cast-iron housing may be mentioned here, which requires machining operations, as well as the ball bar, which is made of square bar material by means of a metal-removing operation.

[0004] The object of the invention is to provide a detachable towing bracket which can be manufactured in a simple manner and which is consequently inexpensive, whereby the two coupling means can be ideally interconnected, that is, without play and with a high degree of stability.

[0005] In order to accomplish that objective the detachable towing bracket according to the invention comprises the following features: a very stable, statically overdefined connection between the two coupling means is obtained because the fixation takes place over seven contact points (k1..k7), whereby the first contact point (k7) is formed as a result of a clamping body, which is positioned in or on said first coupling means, pushing off against said second coupling means and whereby the other six contact points are formed as a result of six fixed points on the first coupling means being pressed against six abutting faces in or on the second coupling means (Figure 1).

[0006] Preferably said six fixed contact points are distributed over two plano-parallel planes, three in each plane, which plano-parallel planes are disposed on either side of said first coupling means, whilst the seventh contact point, which is formed by the clamping body pressing the two coupling means together, is positioned centrally between the two plano-parallel planes (Figure 1).

[0007] Preferably said seven contact points are line contacts, which ensures a sufficient load-bearing capacity without having to subject the materials to special hardening processes.

[0008] One embodiment of the towing bracket according to the invention is characterized in that said six fixed contact points are formed as a result of a number of cams, in principle six, which are located on said first coupling means and which are positioned such that they are arranged in pairs on one axis, being pressed against six abutting faces in the housing (Figure 1).

[0009] Another embodiment of the towing bracket according to the invention is characterized in that slots are provided in the two lateral faces of the housing, said slots forming the stop surfaces for all cams. Said slots are preferably configured to receive and guide the two front cams when the ball bar is being attached, whilst the four rear cams are unable to pass the funnel-shaped entry of the slots (Figure 1).

[0010] In another embodiment of the towing bracket according to the invention a simplification of the production process is realized by replacing the four rear cams by two cams which are dimensioned such that they are unable to pass the funnel-shaped entry of the slots, but are pressed against said entry when the ball bar is being attached, whereby four line contacts are formed (Figure 2).

[0011] One embodiment of the towing bracket according to the invention is characterized in that said housing is formed of steel plate by means of fine-blanking and bending operations, whereby the guide slots are punched out during the blanking operation (Figure 3).

[0012] One embodiment of the towing bracket (Figure 4) according to the invention is characterized in that said clamping body is an eccentric cam (1), which can be rotated by a rack (2), which engages teeth provided thereon. Said rack is positioned on the end of a cylindrical pin (3), which can move axially in the ball bar or the first coupling means, whereby said pin is driven by a spring (4) (when locking takes place automatically) or by a toothed wheel (5), which cooperates with a rack (6) provided on the other end of said pin (when unlocking takes place manually). In this embodiment the so-called first locking is effected by the cam profile, which in addition to having a part which provides the tightening effect by comprising a run-on angle of a certain number of degrees, also has a part comprising a "run-on angle" of zero degrees. As a result of the presence of said zero degree surface any reverse rotation of the eccentric cam in the unlocking direction caused by the forces acting on the ball bar will be stopped automatically as soon as said eccentric cam arrives at said zero degree surface. The so-called second locking is provided by the rotary knob mechanism, because of the fact that the rotary knob (7) cannot make a complete turn against a spring force until it is depressed. In the extended position of the rotary knob (into which position the knob springs automatically when the ball bar is being attached), said rotary knob is blocked against rotation as a result of a cam (8) provided on the shaft (9) engaging in the lock plate (11). When the knob is depressed by hand the drive shaft will move in axial direction and said locking cam is released from said slot, after which the rotary knob can be turned.

[0013] One embodiment of the towing bracket (Figure 5) according to the invention is characterized in that the clamping body is an axially movable wedge (12), which is fixedly connected to the end of a cylindrical pin (13) or forms part thereof and which upon axial movement of the pin can push off with its sloping run-on surface against a pin (15) present within the housing. Said pin (13) is driven by a spring (16) (when locking takes place automatically) or by a toothed wheel (17), which engages a rack (18) provided on the other end of said pin (when locking takes place manually). Said toothed wheel is connected to said control knob (7) via the drive shaft (9). The first locking is effected because the wedge angle of a certain number of degrees (approx. 12 degrees) on the operative part slowly decreases to zero degrees (19) at the end. This tapering (to an eventual zero degrees) ensures that when the forces acting on the ball bar should cause the wedge to move in axial direction, this movement is stopped automatically when the wedge angle has sufficiently decreased (to an eventual zero degrees). The so-called second locking is provided by the rotary knob mechanism, because of the fact that the rotary knob cannot make a full turn against a spring force until being completely depressed. In the extended position of the rotary knob (7) (into which position the knob springs automatically when the ball bar is being attached), the rotary knob is blocked against rotation as a result of a cam (8) provided on the shaft (9) engaging in the lock plate (11). When the knob is depressed by hand the drive shaft will move in axial direction and said locking cam is released from said slot, after which the rotary knob can be turned.

[0014] Another embodiment (Figure 6) of the towing bracket is characterized in that the locking pin remains in the retracted position when the ball bar is detached, because in this position a pin (20), which moves radially within the unlocking pin, moves outwards under the influence of spring force and thus becomes wedged within a bore (21) in the ball bar, pushing another pin (22) present within the ball bar outwards until it strikes a stop. When the ball bar is attached again said latter pin (22) is pushed back automatically as a result of making contact with the housing, after which the locking pin moves back automatically again into the locking position under the influence of spring force.

[0015] Another embodiment of the towing bracket (Figure 7) is characterized in that said locking pin is made in the following manner: because of the required strength the wedge-shaped end of the pin is formed of a hard metal by means of a machining operation or by means of the so-called MIM process (as described below *). The hard product is then placed in a die-casting mould and completed by forming a plastic or a suitable metal alloy thereon.

MIM process

[0016] The MIM process is a rather new process, which comprises the following steps:

1) Granulated material consisting of a mixture of a suitable metal powder and a suitable plastic is formed into a product by means of the so-called injection moulding process.

2) The product formed under 1 is then immersed in a chemical bath, in which the plastic material present in the product is dissolved again.

3) The porous product thus formed is sintered under a vacuum at a high temperature, whereby the porosity is lost and the material attains a density of nearly 100%. As a result of this nearly 100% density the properties of the material are practically identical to those of the original material. In this manner a very hard and strong final product can be obtained without any metal removing operations being required.

Claims

1. A detachable towing bracket for a vehicle, whereby the ball bar comprising a first coupling means can be detachably connected to a second coupling means or a housing mounted on the vehicle, characterized in that a very stable, statically overdefined connection between the two coupling pieces is obtained because the fixation takes place over seven line contacts, whereby the first line contact is formed as a result of a clamping body, which is positioned in or on said first coupling means, pushing off against said second coupling means and whereby the other six contact points are formed as a result of cams provided on said first coupling means being pressed against abutting faces on or in said second coupling means or said housing (Figure 1).

2. A towing bracket according to claim 1, wherein six cams are used, characterized in that said cams are disposed in two identical groups of three each on either side of said first coupling means, whereby each cam is positioned such that its axis is aligned with the corresponding cam on the other side of said coupling means (Figure 1).

3. A towing bracket according to claim 2, characterized in that guide slots are provided in the two lateral faces of said housing (second coupling means), said slots having a funnel-shaped entry and forming abutting faces and being configured to receive and guide the two front cams on said first coupling means, whilst the other four cams are unable to pass said funnel-shaped entry but abut thereagainst (Figure 1).

4. A towing bracket according to claim 3, characterized in that for ease of manufacture said four cams abutting against the funnel-shaped entry of the slots have been replaced by two cams being dimensioned such that they are unable to pass the funnel-shaped entry of the slots in the housing, but are pressed against said entry when the ball bar is being attached (Figure 2).

5. A towing bracket according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that said housing is formed of steel plate by means of fine-blanking and bending operations, whereby the guide slots are punched out during the blanking operation (Figure 3).

6. A towing bracket according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said clamping mechanism consists of an eccentric cam, which can be rotated by a rack, which engages teeth provided thereon, said rack being positioned on the end of a cylindrical pin, which can move axially with respect to said ball bar, whereby said drive is effected by a spring (when locking takes place automatically) or by a toothed wheel, which cooperates with a rack provided on the other end of said pin, which is driven by a toothed wheel, which is connected to the rotary button (when unlocking takes place manually) (Figure 4).

7. A towing bracket according to any one of the preceding claims 1 - 5, whereby said clamping mechanism consists of a wedge-shaped body, which is fixedly connected to a cylindrical pin being capable of axial movement within said ball bar, or which forms part thereof, and which upon axial movement of the pin can push off with a sloping run-on surface against a pin present within the housing, whereby said pin is driven by a spring (when locking takes place automatically) or by means of a toothed wheel, which engages a rack provided on the other end of said pin (when locking takes place manually), characterized in that said pin, with said wedge provided on one end and said rack provided on the other end, is manufactured in the following manner: "The cylindrical head of the pin with the wedge-shaped end is formed of a hard metal by means of a machining operation or by means of the so-called MIM process (in both cases because of the required strength), after which this product is placed in a die-casting mould in order to complete the pin and rack by forming a plastic or a suitable metal alloy thereon (Figures 5 and 7).

8. A towing bracket according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the so-called second locking is effected because one part of the drive gear, namely the drive shaft, which is secured to the rotary knob, is blocked against rotation in locked condition, because a cam is provided on said drive shaft, which cam engages in the lock plate, thus preventing rotation, which blocking can only be released by depressing the knob against the spring force of a spring provided for that purpose, which spring automatically keeps said knob in an extended position, which manipulation also causes said cam to be released from said lock plate (Figure 4B)

9. A towing bracket according to claim 8, characterized in that said drive shaft (9) comprising teeth and blocking cam is made by means of an injection moulding process or by means of the MIM process (Figures 4A and 4B).

10. A towing bracket according to claims 6, 7, 8 or 9, characterized in that said pin is locked in a retracted position after said ball bar has been detached, because in this position a pin (20), which moves radially within the unlocking pin, moves outwards under the influence of spring force and thus becomes wedged within a bore (21) in the ball bar, thereby pushing another pin (22) present within the ball bar outwards until it strikes a stop, whereby said latter pin (22) serves to provide an automatic locking when the ball bar is attached again, since said pin is pushed back in as a result of making contact with the housing (Figure 6).

11. A towing bracket according to any one of the preceding claims, whereby said ball bar is made of round bar material and whereby the end of said ball bar is flattened to the correct width for being received within said housing.

Drawing